


Covert Kindness

by Terminallydepraved



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Awkward Flirting, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Stakeout, Surprises, office hijinks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-09
Updated: 2018-08-09
Packaged: 2019-06-24 13:08:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15631308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Terminallydepraved/pseuds/Terminallydepraved
Summary: Someone is performing random acts of kindness around the precinct. Gavin refuses to take it at face value.AKA the fic in which Gavin is a brat, Nines is cute, and Hank just wants to eat his fruit unbothered.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into 한국어 available: [Covert Kindness](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15773085) by [lucadris](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lucadris/pseuds/lucadris)



> i really just wanted to write something that made me feel good, so here we are. Nines is fucking cute. I dont care what y'all say, he's fucking cute and i'm gonna make everyone see it too. enjoy !

Gavin stared at his desk.

The desk, in a sense, stared back. 

He tossed down his messenger bag and double checked just to make sure he really was at his desk. But nope, there was his name placard… It was sitting where it always was, only today it lacked the stack of folders and files beneath it that gave it its usual six inches of added height. In fact, the entire desk was decidedly lacking in its usual clutter. Gone were the old napkins and files, pads of paper he’d use for note taking during especially strenuous cases, and the collection of mugs he’d been gathering after a solid seventy-two hours of powering through one of the toughest serial killer cases he’d ever been saddled with. 

In all of that’s place sat… nothing. Clean, bare desk. What the fuck. 

Gavin fell into his chair and stared a little harder, a bit shocked that there was no trace at all of the mess he’d called his workspace. He’d come in early today to clean it up since he’d finished the bulk of the casework that’d necessitated the mess to begin with. But… it was already done. 

“Hey, Chen,” Gavin called out, leaning back in his chair until the back legs were the only part still touching the floor. “You touch my fucking desk?”

Tina looked up from behind her monitor, brow raised and lips curled into a frown. She glanced at his clean desk, then back up to him. “You really think I’d clean that pigsty for you? You’re projecting, Reed,” she said, going back to her work. 

“Well,  _ someone  _ touched my fucking things,” he huffed, setting his chair back onto all four legs with a loud clunk. Gavin crossed his arms and glowered at the pristine surface. He could nearly see himself in it now. That was almost nice, in a sense. He’d be able to find things again and not have to worry about misplacing any reports like he’d done last week, but still. The principle of the matter didn’t go away. “I had fucking case files open on it,” Gavin muttered, opening up drawers until he found the folders stacked neatly away inside. Neon sticky notes marked the pages that had been open. Huh. 

He opened the drawers one by one, eyes opening wider with each one he checked. The top of the desk was just the beginning of it all. Every single drawer had been organized as well, cleaned of all detritus and returned to the state of casual-but-contained clutter he usually enjoyed when he wasn’t shouldered with a case that kept him up at night. Whoever had done this had known him well. Nothing was out of place. Even the fucking paper clips were right where he liked them to be, tucked in the corner of the third drawer on the left side. 

Weird. So fucking weird. Gavin closed the last drawer and leaned back in his chair, staring at the top of his desk. Even the sticky notes he’d tacked to his monitor were there, visible once more now that the case-related ones had been cleared away and tucked into one of the folders in the top drawer. He let his eyes wander a bit lower, and then sat up a bit straighter when he caught sight of a familiar spot of blue tucked behind the base of his computer screen. Was that…?

Holy shit, it was. He snatched it up and brought it close, his lips parted in a gape. “Where the fuck were you hiding, huh?” he asked the bright blue stress ball, giving it a squeeze. It’d been weeks since he last held it in hand, and he’d pretty much given up on ever seeing it again after throwing it against the far wall of the bullpen after a particularly long night of bad leads. 

“Sounds like you got a visit from the office fairy,” Ben observed as he walked by. In his hands he held a sizable stack of folders, his coffee mug brimming and balanced precariously on top in a way that Gavin could envision would only end poorly. “Got me last week, so it must be making the rounds.”

“The-- hold on, just wait a fucking minute.” Gavin shoved away from his desk, stress ball still in hand, letting the wheels of the chair carry him forward until he cut off the other detective’s progress. The coffee lurched dangerously when Ben stopped, and he shot Gavin a glare over the top of his files in return. Gavin just crossed his arms and raised a brow. “Collins, the office  _ what-now?” _

Ben sighed and rolled his eyes. “What rock have you been living under? It’s been a thing for a few weeks now.” He tried to side step Gavin, but Gavin was quick to scoot in front of him, cutting him off once more. “Jesus, Reed, some of us actually have work to do today.”

“Excuse fucking me if I’m a bit behind the times. Some of us were a bit occupied solving a serial homicide case. If someone’s fucking with my things, I want to know who it is.” Gavin peered around the bullpen shrewdly. Not many people were in yet. It was barely nine. He side eyed Ben once more. “What’d they do to you, Collins? Did they mess with your desk too?”

“Hardly. They just fixed the light over my desk that had been bothering me with that fucking flickering for the past month. We done now? Can I go?”

Gavin crossed his arms critically. “How do you know maintenance didn’t just come in and fix it for you?” 

Ben scowled. “Because every service request I put in for it was ignored. Marv’s been out on paternity leave the past six weeks and so nothing like that is being processed right now.” He tried to step around Gavin again, but stopped himself before Gavin could. His attention left Gavin entirely, moving somewhere over his shoulder. Gavin frowned and furrowed his brow, and started to look over his shoulder.

Before he could managed to do so, he found himself flailing unceremoniously as he was jerked back by the backrest of his seat. He gripped the arm rests and looked up, only to find a pair of cold blue eyes watching him impassively from on high. “The fuck do you want? I’m talking to someone,” Gavin grunted, and he tried valiantly to put his feet down and stop the movement of his chair. He didn’t succeed, though. Nines just kept wheeling him regardless, right back to his desk. 

“Later, Reed,” Ben called out, disappearing into one of the interrogation rooms without even bothering to help. “Hope you find your fairy soon!”

“Hey, shut the fuck up, Col-- Would you fucking  _ stop?”  _ Gavin interjected as he found himself scooted back into his desk. “Nines, what the fuck is your deal?”

“Good morning to you as well, Detective Reed,” Nines recited evenly. He made sure Gavin was scooted right up to the desk before letting go and backing up. He stood at the side of Gavin’s desk with his hands behind his back, chin up and eyes level. Rigid as a statue, as always. “I’ve the details of our next case to brief you with, if you’re prepared to begin the day now.”

Gavin couldn’t help but groan a bit. He braced his elbow on the desk and ran his fingers through his hair. He’d only just gotten off that hellish case from before, and six hours of sleep didn’t feel like nearly enough buffer between it and the next. He looked at his desk and gave his stress ball a gentle squeeze. At least he didn’t have to bother with cleaning this morning. It’d be one less thing to think about. Hell, maybe it’d let him save his remaining brain cells for more important things. 

“...Gavin?” Nines said quietly. He leaned down a little, almost as if trying to see Gavin’s face. “We have a new case.”

“Yeah, yeah, I heard you,” Gavin muttered, spinning in his chair to face the android. Whatever. He’d do his job and think about the clean desk later. He reached for his stress ball and tossed it between his hands, grateful for its reappearance if nothing else, and then looked up to meet the watchful eyes of his less than chipper partner. Another day, another case, another fuckfest of cool stares and monotone replies. 

Gavin sighed, giving his ball a preemptive squeeze. “What have we got this time?”


	2. Chapter 2

Things just escalated from there.

Plants were being watered that had previously been ignored. Dishes left in the sink overnight miraculously ended up washed come morning. Communal snacks began appearing in the breakroom, and not even like, shitty snacks. Good snacks. Thought out snacks. The kind that boasted antioxidants and all that bullshit along with gluten-free options on the side for Fowler, who no one even knew  _ had  _ a gluten intolerance until he brought it up upon finding the special basket marked as such. 

All in all, it was driving Gavin fucking mad. No one would fess up to it. No one had any clue who was behind it, and it felt like Gavin was the only one who really cared to find out. Sure, some of the others entertained a cursory level curiosity for it, but no one seemed quite as concerned about it as he did... 

He supposed he should be grateful a few of them cared enough to form an unofficial taskforce for it regardless. 

“It’s gotta be Connor, right?” Tina muttered, bringing her mug of coffee to the table where they’d begun to gather every morning to discuss the precinct’s resident chore fairy. She took a careful sip and set the cup down, eyeing each of them one by one. “Like, it’s gotta be him. I’m about eighty percent sure it’s him.”

Hank rolled his eyes, prodding at the small plastic container he’d been fucking with since he pulled it from the fridge. It was full of grapes and sliced fruits, like apples and pears and fucking pineapple. He speared one of the latter with his fork and used it to gesture at Tina. “And I’m telling you, it’s not Connor. You really think he’d bring me a fucking danish when he’s got me eating like a damn rabbit?” He shoved the cube of pineapple into his mouth and chewed ruefully. “Fuckin’ unlikely. It’s not Connor, and even if it was, I think I’d notice him sneaking around like that.”

Gavin rolled his eyes and reached over, stealing one of the grapes from the container. Hank let out an indignant grunt, but Gavin just popped it into his mouth before the man could retaliate. “Oh, shut up, Anderson. It’s not like you’ll miss it,” he said, chewing and swallowing and holding back the instinctive urge to be pissed that Hank had Connor around to make him tasty little fruit snacks like that everyday. “If it’s not Connor, then that leaves us with barely any options. I don’t know about you guys, but I think I’d prefer knowing who it is bringing us food and fucking with confidential case files.”

Tina nodded vaguely and drank her coffee. Hank, frowning at the theft as he was, still managed an affirmative grunt too. Better than nothing, at least. Gavin shifted his crossed ankles and leaned a little more heavily on the table. He drummed his fingertips, scanning the rest of the office over his shoulder. 

He lifted his head and narrowed his eyes. “I say we stage a stakeout.” 

Tina suddenly coughed, and when Gavin looked back at their little coffee clatch, he found her hacking into a napkin. Shit, she must’ve been drinking when he said that. She looked up at him with watery eyes, her judgemental gaze strong even when she was choking. “Are you-- Reed, are you fucking twelve?”

Gavin stood a little straighter. His lips curled into a snarl. “What?” he demanded, only to lower his voice when Hank shushed him the next moment. He spared a glare towards Hank and stole another grape for good measure, shoving it in his mouth aggressively as he turned back to Tina. “How else are we going to figure out who’s doing it?”

“You could try fucking asking,” Hank grumbled. Whether he meant for the fruit or for the identity of the culprit, Gavin couldn’t tell. And frankly? Didn’t really care. It was a dumb idea and he wasn’t going to do it. For either option. 

“You really think someone would fess up to doing this kinda shit?” Gavin snorted. He bounced his foot against the ground, shaking his head as he stared at the table. “No, no, no one in their right mind would admit to it. We gotta stake it out, check the security cameras at the very least.”

Tina hummed, putting down her coffee with a shake of her head. She swallowed quickly. “Nope, can’t do that,” she said. 

Gavin arched a brow. “The first thing or the second?”

“The second. The cameras are under an encryption lock. Fowler’s the only one who can check them, and I…” She paused to laugh, her eyes roving over Gavin’s head. “I highly doubt you’ll get Fowler to check the camera feeds for something like this. You’re the only one who really gives a shit about it.”

Gavin gritted his teeth. “And the first?”

Tina smiled, and it was a smile Gavin knew well. “Not on your life,” she said easily. “If you think I’m setting foot in this place a minute after my shift ends, you’ve got another thing coming.” 

Scoffing, Gavin turned next to Hank. Only, he regretted it instantly. Looking at Hank implied he  _ wanted  _ to spend a night with him, and he could say right now he really fucking didn’t. Fortunately for him, Hank felt the same. The man popped another bite of fruit in his mouth and raised an unimpressed brow. 

“Let’s just save ourselves some breath and say you’re out of options,” Hank offered.

“That’s the smartest thing you’ve ever said, Anderson,” Gavin muttered, drumming his fingers a little harder. “Fuck, you guys are really useless, aren’t you? If not that, then what? You assholes have any better ideas?”

Instead of answering him, both went silent. Their eyes widened a bit, and Hank quickly began putting the top back on his container as if he were ready to leave. Gavin furrowed his brow and frowned. “Hey, if you don’t want to get to the fucking bottom of this, then just fucking say so.”

Tina turned away and cleared her throat, taking a pointed sip of her coffee. She extended her index finger and pointed just over Gavin’s shoulder. 

He started to turn. “What--?”

Gavin choked on his words when he found another body lurking just behind him. He jumped, spun around, and--aw, fucking hell. He looked up at Nines’s impassive face and the file he had tucked under his arm. 

“Your break has extended well past the allotted fifteen minutes deemed permissible by our workplace standards, Detective,” the android recited, holding out the folder expectantly. “If you are finished, there are some new developments in our case that I’d like to go over with you.”

Off to the side, Gavin registered Hank hissing out a low whistle. “Somebody’s in trouble,” he singsonged quietly as he shoved the remainder of his fruit back into the fridge. 

Indignation filled Gavin in a white hot rush. He snatched the folder from Nines’s hands and whipped around, glaring at Hank. “Shut the fuck up, Anderson,” he sneered. He was so stealing the rest of that fucking fruit the second he got a chance. “Go play pattycake with your fucking partner already.”

The older man let out a snort and shut the fridge door with a click. “Don’t go projecting now, Reed,” he laughed, brushing past the table and towards the doorway. “Just because my partner’s actually cute doesn’t mean you’ll get away with it.”

The sound Gavin made in response defied words, and if asked about it, he’d fucking lie and say it was anything but the bratty little harrumph it actually was. Hank’s laugh carried on as he went back to his desk, and Tina took the distraction it allotted her to slip out unnoticed as well. That left Gavin alone with Nines, Ice Queen extraordinaire.

“Fucking shit,” Gavin hissed, pushing the android aside to stomp back towards his desk. He didn’t need to look to know that Nines was following him. “I was in the middle of something back there.” He dragged out his chair and threw himself down in it, snatching up his stress ball instinctively. God, it was such a blessing having it back again. Whoever that chore fairy was, they definitely seemed to know what a person wanted most when it came to being content in this hell hole. 

Nines just blinked and then began to pull his own chair around, scooting it close to Gavin’s half of the desk. “I’m sorry,” he said slowly, cocking his head. “But the case is probably more important.”

Well, that wasn’t a lie. Gavin gave the ball a few more squeezes and then let out a sigh. “Fine, fine. Whatever. You really aren’t cute at all. Tell me what you found.” He was a damn good detective. He could multitask this and the office mystery at the same time. Probably.

A pause. Gavin glanced over and caught the precise moment when Nines’s LED went from yellow to blue. The android blinked, sat a little straighter, and nodded. 

“Very well. The forensics…”

Gavin let the android’s low, inflection-less voice roll over him. He’d get to the bottom of this himself, with or without the rest of them. 


	3. Chapter 3

The precinct after dark was a familiar sight for Gavin. He’d just gotten off a stint of horrendous overtime after all, so the dark lit halls and ominously silent rooms were old hat at this point. 

“God, I miss my fucking bed,” he mumbled to no one in particular since no one had the balls to come with him on this little stake out. How long was this going to take? He’d stayed at work until the usual time, gone home, pissed away the time napping and then eating, and come back around midnight when the late shift was just signing off for patrols and remote work. A few of them had given him odd looks, but most didn’t bother asking what he was doing back. Sometimes cases looked different by the light of the moon. 

Sometimes there were faceless little fairies in need of catching. 

Gavin stretched languidly and shifted once more in his spot behind Person’s desk. He’d figured this gave him the best view of the bullpen and the likeliest targets for tonight’s fairy-chore, and he’d be able to watch for a bit and then jump out without giving himself away in the middle of it. But fuck, was it dull waiting. His eyes burned and his jaw clicked as he yawned. He was running himself ragged at this point, but sleep was hard enough to chase on a good day, and with the mystery hanging over him, he knew he’d just toss and turn until morning came calling if he didn’t give it the attention it deserved. 

Well, deserved might be pushing it. Gavin tipped his head back and closed his eyes after glancing at his watch. After one now. The shit he fixated on… 

He’d practically nodded off by the time something did happen. 

What roused him wasn’t a clatter or a footsteps or conversation. Hell, he might have expected there to be some noise like that given all the cleaning and shit the fairy was known to do. What he hadn’t expected to hear was the sound of running water, or smell the scent of chemically steeped lemon lilting in the otherwise abandoned precinct. It tickled his nose and pulled him from his half-hearted rest. Gavin blinked blearily in the darkness. Someone was in the break room kitchen. 

A quick glance at his watch told him he’d fallen asleep for about forty five minutes. It was a bit after two now. Fucking hell. Fucker must have sneaked in while he was out without turning on the lights. The place was still dark, still quiet but for that water sound...

He shoved himself upright and wiped the drool from his chin away with his hand, narrowing his eyes as he tried to see who it was. Damn, this angle was bad. He’d figured the fairy would focus on the plants or something over the break room, and Person’s desk was at one hell of a bad angle for the latter. Oh well. Just meant he had to try stealthing around a bit. Gavin forced himself to his feet and kept close to the wall, following it around until the came to the doorway that led into the break room. 

His hand hovered over his hip. He caught himself, curling his hand into a fist. Adrenaline pounded through his veins, a heady cocktail that momentarily erased the exhaustion weighing down his bones. Just like a sting, he grinned. Except, not. He lowered his hand, willing himself to calm down a little. The fuck was he thinking? He didn’t need his gun out to sneak up on a coworker doing chores. He focused instead on recalling where the lightswitch was in the room. He’d give them a scare either way, so he hardly needed the added intimidation factor of coming in hot. 

One, two, three.

Gavin lunged forward, smacking his hand against the wall as he dragged the lightswitch up. The room flooded with bright, piercing light, and Gavin willed himself to keep his eyes open even when instinct told him to close them in the wake of the sudden light. 

“Ha! Caught you, asshole--” The light caught on the person in question, and Gavin cut himself off with a choked grunt. Bright blue eyes stared at him, wide and surprised, and a spinning yellow LED seemed to echo the stuttering taking over Gavin’s brain. “Nines?” he tried. The android’s hands were half submerged in the break room sink, dirty dishes stacked high beside him. He’d stripped himself of his usual jacket. All he wore below was his black button up with the sleeves rolled up his forearms. 

Gavin hated that he stared a bit. His tongue was clumsy in his mouth, but he cleared his throat anyway, spitting out, “The fuck are you doing here?”

Nines said nothing. He just stared, and Gavin stared right on back, equally dumbstruck. The scent of lemon dish soap was thick in the air, and the faucet kept running, right up until the water nearly ran over the lip of the sink.

“Hey, careful!” Gavin rushed, crossing the distance with a jog to turn the water off before it could spill over. Nines came back to life then, seeming to realize himself. Gavin looked up, shooting a glare his way. “The hell, Nines. I get that it’s late but wake the fuck up.”

The LED flickered between yellow and blue, and settled on blue once Nines nodded. He dipped his hand into the water and pulled the plug, letting out enough water to mitigate the risk of overflow. The sink made the same rattling sucking noise it always did when used, and Gavin stood there awkwardly, watching, not quite sure where to go from there. 

_ This  _ was the office fairy? If you’d told him before, he never would’ve fucking believed it.

Nines reached for a dish lurking beneath the soapy water. He made as if to go back to his task, Gavin be damned. 

“The hell are you doing here? It’s like two fucking a.m.” Gavin spoke as he took in what had to be every dish the precinct break room held. Nines must have wandered all over the bullpen collecting them from beneath piles of files and folders, atop desks, and inside side rooms. Gavin recognized a mug he’d used earlier that day and never dealt with, and a few of the bent spoons he’d demolished while fucking around with that carton of ice cream he’d found in the back of the fridge after lunch. He’d left them on the side of his desk, intending to get to them in the morning. 

Only, it seemed Nines had gotten to it first. The android washed another dish instead of answering. The fuck was wrong with him?

Gavin pressed closer, hip bumping Nines hard enough to nearly make him drop his current mug. One of Hank’s, so Gavin didn’t really see it as a loss if it did break. “Hey, don’t fucking ignore me,” he demanded. “You’re in here after hours. It’s fucking suspicious behavior.”

“I would greatly prefer it if you’d leave me be, Detective,” Nines answered, pouring another measure of dish soap into the water. Dismissive as he was, Gavin couldn’t help but notice he’d unbuttoned the top few buttons of his shirt as well. This was the most dressed down Gavin had ever seen him. “I have clearance to be in the building at any hour I may decide is prudent for my work. I’m not breaking any rules, so--”

“Nah, you’re not,” Gavin cut in, “but you’re being nice and I don’t trust that one fucking bit.”

Nines stiffened. His LED went from blue to a sharp yellow color. His washing stopped and he stood there, hands submerged, as silent as a statue. 

“Hey, you power down or something?” Gavin moved forward and waved his hand in front of the android’s impassive face. He peered in front of him and paused when he caught sight of the tight look of… of something lingering just beneath the rote expression. 

“Why… don’t you trust it?” Nines said after a few awkward moments of nothing. He kept his eyes fixed on the sinkful of water, no matter how hard Gavin tried to meet his eyes. 

“What do you mean, why?” Gavin gave up and put his back to the counter, crossing his arms in front of his chest. If the android didn’t want to look at him, he wasn’t going to be forced. “People don’t just do nice things for nothing. You’ve got an angle. Everyone’s got one. Why the hell would some pricy, fancy ass bot like you be doing shit like a domestic android?”

Slowly Nines began to relax. He picked up another dish and scrubbed at it carefully, still not looking up. “Because I’d like to be helpful,” he said quietly, the barest hint of an uptick at the end making it a question. Like he was suggesting it more than stating it. 

Helpful? “Why on earth would you want to do something like that? I don’t see Connor busting in here to bring us all a healthy snack or mop the fucking floor.” You couldn’t pay Gavin enough to come back here after hours and do the fucking dishes, let alone clean up shit left lying around by another asshole who didn’t care. Hell, Nines certainly wasn’t getting paid for this either. Yet here he was, busting his shiny plastic ass instead of going home and doing whatever it was androids did when not at work. 

Nines stopped washing. He quietly rinsed the plate and put it on the disk rack, and then dried his hands with the nearest hand towel. Gavin watched as he returned the towel to its hanger, straightened it, and then slowly turned to face him. 

“I’m not like Connor,” Nines said slowly. “He doesn’t… He doesn’t need to do things to be helpful. It’s in his programming to assist and aid. I’m not… equipped to be amicable. Engaging with my coworkers the way he does is difficult. Exceedingly difficult.” 

Gavin was taken aback. This had to be the first time he’d ever seen Nines look  _ uncomfortable.  _ The android shifted and seemed then to realize what he was doing. He stood straight, then moved his hands behind his back as if he were giving a report. Must be his comfort pose. 

“So you, what? Break in here at two a.m. to do the dishes?” Gavin propped his hip against the counter and rubbed the back of his neck. Gavin was probably the least “equipped” to be giving advice on this kind of thing, but lucky, lucky him because no one else was stupid enough to stake out the precinct to do it for him. Nines gave a shrug, and that was about how Gavin felt about this too. “Have you tried just talking to people?” 

Nines refused to look at him, but his head gave the barest hint of a nod. “It doesn’t go the way I anticipate,” he said quietly. “It’s always assumed to be work conversation when I approach. I have… trouble… turning conversation towards the recreational. My attempts are always met with… hesitance. Distance.” The paused were getting weightier, longer. He was struggling to verbalize something so at odds with his core programming, even with the deviancy helping things along. 

This was definitely beyond Gavin’s purview. Shit like small talk, it wasn’t something he knew how to teach… He chewed at his inner cheek and stared off at the dark recesses of the office, ignoring how still Nines was, how motionless he could be when he was uncomfortable. It was that sort of mannerism that made him off putting, he had to think. Uncanny valley and all that shit. Human-looking but just enough  _ not  _ that it made the rest want to speed through any interaction with him and be on their way sooner rather than later. 

“Okay.” Gavin let out a sigh and turned to look at Nines. “You’re bad at conversation. Doesn’t really explain why you’d go to all this trouble in secret. If you wanted to get along with everyone, then why didn’t you just fess up and say it was you doing everything?”

The LED flashed red for a moment. Gavin’s eyes widened when Nines’s hands curled into tight fists behind his back. He seemed to struggle to answer. Gavin… just waited. He had a feeling Nines needed a minute. 

Silence descended, thick and a bit uncomfortable. Gavin tried not to break it with unnecessary sounds like the shifting of his clothes or the tapping of his fingers against his arms. Eventually the LED went back to yellow. Nines lifted his head.

“I didn’t feel people wanted the culprit to be me.”

Gavin cocked his head. “And why not?” He only hoped it wouldn’t take another ten minutes for this answer to come. 

It didn’t. “You’ve said it yourself, Detective. I’m not cute,” Nines whispered, averting his eyes. “I don’t want to force people to interact with me when I clearly make them uncomfortable. I’m just trying to be helpful. It doesn’t matter if I’m thanked or acknowledged. I just… wanted to help.”

Bullshit. Bull-fucking-shit. Gavin felt his cheeks grow warm, the anger rising in his gut faster than he knew what to do with. He rubbed at his eyes as he began to pace. Where the fuck was his stress ball? Oh, that’s right, it was back on his desk,  _ found  _ because of Nines’s fucking… kindness. He’d known, hadn’t he? How much Gavin needed that fucking toy on his desk to keep him sane during the workday. He’d probably watched Gavin fiddle with it for months before it went missing, and then listened to him bitch endlessly once it was gone. 

How long had he looked for it? How long had he waited for Gavin to solve that case before unloading his helpfulness on him too, just as he’d done for the rest of the office?

How long had Nines had to walk up behind him and watch everyone scatter, conversations put to an abrupt end the second he came to… 

Fuck. How much of it was bringing Gavin back to work and how much of it was Nines just wanting to join in? 

“We’ve really been shitty to you, haven’t we?” 

Nines didn’t bother lifting his head. His LED was still cycling yellow. Stressed, probably, though his stony expression would never show it. Gavin let out another sigh, rubbing furiously at the back of his head. Fuck fuck  _ fuck. _ When he’d planned this fucking stake out he’d expected to find the one responsible, maybe give them a ribbing and then be on his way. But now? Now things had gotten a lot more… involved… than he wanted them to be. And fuck him if he didn’t feel guilty too.

“It’s…”

Gavin paused his pacing, looking up at Nines. The android was boring a hole in the floor with the force of his stare. 

“It’s not in my programming to be amicable. My main function differs significantly from Connor’s despite our similar appearances. I can’t… easily overcome the limitations I’ve been dealt. It’s not you or any other officer’s fault for the strained nature of our work relationship.”

“I’m sensing a  _ but  _ coming,” Gavin murmured.  

Nines finally lifted his head. The ghost of a smile teased his lips, but it was gone as swiftly as it’d come.  _ “But,”  _ he continued, “I can’t help myself from feeling… jealous… of Connor’s ease of assimilation. I’m an advancement on his prototype yet I feel inadequate.”

Gavin hissed out a breath through his teeth. There it was. He’d never expected this kind of thing from Nines, but maybe that was what caused all of this to begin with. They kept on underestimating him. It wasn’t a hard mistake to make; Nines was a hulking shadow against the break room sink, his posture rigid and his body coming to a parade rest automatically, just like a soldier. He wasn’t chipper and bubbly. He wasn’t like Connor at all who talked to anyone who talked to him, always finding a way to diffuse things with a smile. 

Gavin could count on one hand how many times he’d seen Nines smile, and he’d still have fingers left over to spare. Maybe… they just weren’t giving him enough reason to. 

Before he could talk himself out of it, Gavin made himself move. He pressed his hip to the counter of the sink and raised a hand, ruffling Nines’s hair before the android had a chance to pull away. Hell, that was probably just wishful thinking. Nines had seen the move coming a thousand times and probably could have reacted in a thousand different ways if he wanted to. But, he didn’t. He stayed still, eyes wide, LED finally turning blue, and let Gavin pet his hair. 

It was… a lot softer than Gavin imagined it’d be. If he ever imagined such a thing at all, he amended internally. Which he hadn’t. Ever. 

“Talking to people is the worst,” he muttered, only pulling his hand away when Nines’s hair was well and truly mussed. It fell around his forehead and eyes in wavy pieces, and it was frankly a bit shocking how much more approachable he looked with that part of him dressed down too. “You don’t have to be good at it, but if you want people to talk to you all you gotta do is give them a reason to. Stop trying to be Connor when you’re you.”

Nines stared at him with more expression on his face than Gavin had ever seen in the months that they’d known each other. “Detective--”

Gavin felt his body warm up. He shoved away and grabbed for the nearest thing that could divert the rest of this conversation. His hand closed around a dishcloth. Fine. Good enough. 

“Shut up. That’s all you’re getting from me. You’re washing. I didn’t give up a night of sleep just to walk out of here with pruny hands,” Gavin muttered, his ears burning hot in the darkness of the room. They were both lucky he barely slept as it was else this was going to hurt come the start of morning shift. He bumped Nines out of his rigid stance with his hip and held up his hand expectantly. “Come on, I don’t have all night.”

Nines blinked. Yellow switched to blue, and if the heights of his cheekbones tinged a darker color, well, they could both just pretend it was from the dim light and lack of sleep on Gavin’s part. The android stepped back up to the sink and placed another plate in the soapy water. A smile tugged at the corner of his lip. 

_ Cute.  _

Gavin flushed at the thought and grabbed the wet plate the second it was offered to him. He scrubbed at it like it owed him money. 

“Thank you, Gavin,” Nines said quietly, nearly lost over the sound of the running water. “I appreciate it.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he muttered, reaching for the next dish. “Just keep washing.”


	4. Chapter 4

When Nines entered the building the next morning, he wasn’t sure why he expected things to be… different.

He was still one of the first ones in, still routinely ignored by those who arrived early enough to open the precinct for the morning shift when he walked by to go to his desk. The office looked the same. The vestiges of his work early that morning were only just beginning to be discovered, and as Nines walked through the precinct, as he listened to the whisperings and murmurs of surprise take root… He told himself to be happy. He’d done it once again. He’d made them smile.

Nines pulled out his chair and sat down. For what had to be the fourth time in as many hours, he repeated the exchange between himself and Detective Reed. The way Gavin had listened, the warmth of his hand when it touched his hair. It was a move he’d seen the Lieutenant do often to Connor. A reward, he’d gathered from observation.

For some reason he didn’t think it meant the same when Gavin did it.

Either way, the time for rumination had ended. It was work time now, and Nines wasn’t in the habit of daydreaming at his desk when he could be booting up his monitor and reviewing the latest case. A series of thefts had been reported across the city, breaking out near thirium refinement facilities. That was more important. He could always dwell later.

“Hmm, someone did all the dishes again,” a voice he identified as Officer Person mused from off in the break room. Nines cocked his head towards the voice and turned, sitting with his chair pointed towards the room. This was his favorite part, and he didn’t want to miss it. No one seemed to notice him, thankfully. They rarely ever did.

“If they keep this up we’ll all get spoiled,” Officer Chen sighed as she stirred her coffee. Two sugars, no cream, Nines’s database supplied for him. Perhaps he should bring her some raw sugar? He’d heard her complain about the decreasing quantity in the communal sugar bowl as of late and her pointed distaste for artificial alternatives.

“Hey, any day I don’t have to scrub my coffee mugs clean is a good day to me.”

Nines blinked, pleased. Their conversation bled into other topics, and he only watched for a few more moments before deeming his moment of gratification complete. He slowly turned in his chair and faced his desk. Time to turn on his desktop and get to work.

Only… His processors whirled to life when he spotted something out of place lurking behind his monitor stand.

What…?

He reached for it and closed his hand around something soft. Artificial fur tickled the sensors on his fingertips, and when he pulled it out from behind the stand and into his lap, Nines… stared. He stared at big, brown eyes, a wrinkled, frowny face, and two soft ears on a light grey body.

It was a cat plushie, he realized. And a very angry looking one at that.

Had someone… misplaced this? It hadn’t been on his desk before when he came in to do his chores… He’d left around three a.m. once he and Gavin had finished the dishes and put them away. No one else should have been in until eight. Nines gave a sort of desperate look around, but no one was paying him any mind. A few more officers filtered in through the front door, griping and whinging about the early hour, but no one seemed concerned that they had misplaced a toy.

Nines slowly looked back down at it. He ran his fingers down its soft head, tugging at an ear. Something white caught his eye. A string was wrapped around its neck holding a small paper tag. He took it between his fingers and turned it this way and that. A message had been scrawled on it in a hasty, vaguely familiar hand.

_Her name’s Tardar Sauce. Grumpy but cute is still cute._

His grip on the toy tightened. An odd sort of warmth filled the planes of his face. He ran a diagnostics test.

**[Increased Heat Levels: Thirium Cooling Initiated]**

“Nines? Are you alright?”

Nines lifted his head and spotted Connor walking towards him. Illogically, he felt the impulse to hide the toy from sight. He settled for scooting into his desk, the toy resting on his lap beneath the edge of the table. “Good morning, Connor,” he said firstly. “Why do you ask?”

Connor gestured towards his own cheek. “You’re blushing.”

“Ah…” Nines felt more of that warmth wash over him. “I’ve never done that before. My systems are in the process of fixing it. Pay me no mind.”

Connor just came closer, breaking away from a hazy eyed Lieutenant Anderson to sit himself on the corner of Nines’s desk. The Lieutenant stumbled his way to his own desk without even seeming to notice that Connor wasn’t at his side. Once seated, he stared at his computer monitor blankly.

Nines pulled himself away and saw that Connor had been staring at Hank as well. Connor met his eyes and gave a sort of embarrassed smile, one Nines knew instantly he’d never manage to replicate. “He had a long night,” Connor said by way of explanation. “But what about you? What’s got you so flustered? It’s not like you to emote so strongly.”

Should he tell him? Nines couldn’t quite decide. He’d only just found Tartar Sauce. He wasn’t sure he wanted to share it just yet. He opened his mouth to say something, only to be cut off by another voice.

“Thanks for doing the dishes, Connor,” Collins called out, tearing Connor away as they both looked up. The detective had his hand in the air, an abortive wave that nearly unsettled the new stack of files he was balancing beneath this morning’s cup of coffee. He must’ve just come from the break room and seen the empty dish rack.

“Detective, I didn’t--” But the detective was already gone, disappearing into another room before Connor could finish. Connor sighed and shook his head, and then he gave Nines a weak smile. “One of these days they’ll listen to me,” he said. “Though you could just tell them yourself. It’d probably save us some time.”

Nines shrugged. He looked down and then wished he hadn’t, since it drew Connor’s gaze down too.

Connor leaned in, trying to peer down between his legs. “What do you have there?” he asked.

More heat. Nines scooted out his chair, hoping that by giving in he might cool his systems faster. The small toy was nestled on his thighs, its paws a pale pink on the underside that he hadn’t noticed before. “Someone left it on my desk,” he said quietly, hoping no one else would see. If it wasn’t meant for him, he didn’t want to be accused of stealing. “Tucked behind my computer monitor.”

Connor reached out and pet the small toy’s head with the tips of his fingers. He spotted the tag quickly and lifted it up a little, reading the short, unsigned message.  He smiled at Nines, cocking his head to the side a little. “It’s very cute, Nines,” he said. “Do you like it?”

Nines gave a nod and pinched a small paw between his thumb and forefinger, squeezing gently. “Do you know what the message means?” He wanted to ask who had left it there, but he had a feeling he already knew.

“Well, I’d think--”

“Oh my god, is that a Grumpy Cat?”

Both androids lifted their heads and turned in unison. Officer Chen, coffee in hand, was stopped adjacent to Nines’s desk, no doubt on her way back to her own workstation. Her eyes were wide and her lips curled into a smile. She moved closer and looked down at the toy in Nines’s lap. “Holy shit, it is!”

Nines looked at Connor. Connor’s processors cycled yellow, and he gave a helpless shrug. Nines shifted uneasily in his chair and looked at Officer Chen. “A what?” he asked, hoping she didn’t feel put off by him asking.

She took a swig of her coffee and then let out a bit of a laugh. “It’s a really old fad, like, from back when I was in high school. That’s Grumpy Cat,” she said, pointing at the cat.

“Her name is Tardar Sauce,” Nines corrected, feeling a little defensive.

Officer Chen stared at him for a moment. “Yeah…” she said slowly. “That is the cat’s name. Like, her real name. But she’s known as Grumpy Cat. Where did you find a toy of her? I figured they stopped making those like, a decade ago.”

Nines froze. His eyes flickered to Connor, and Connor looked back at him, at a loss.

“Oh, I get it,” Officer Chen said after a moment of silence. Her lips curled into a knowing smile. “You’re a fan, aren’t you, Nines? Makes sense.”

Nines blinked. “It does?”

She laughed and tilted her mug at them. “Oh, it really, really does,” she said as she turned away, heading towards her desk. “Hit me up during lunch,” she called out over her shoulder. “I’ll show you all the memes with her then.”

Nines nodded dumbly and watched her walk away. He didn’t look back until Connor began to laugh.

“What?” he asked, brow furrowed and hands tight around his toy. “What did I do?”

Connor’s smile was bright and wide. He patted Nines on the shoulder and stood up. “You made yourself a friend,” he said, “and I couldn’t be happier for you.”

A… friend? Nines looked past Connor and saw Officer Chen sit down. He looked upwards, and saw how Connor was glancing over his shoulder to check on Hank. “Officer Chen is my friend now?” Nines wondered. That didn’t at all go with his understanding of friendship. They had only just spoken, nothing more.

Connor looked back at him and smiled, shaking his head. “Not yet, at least,” he said. “But you’ve got a few friends already. Me for one,” he grinned. Then, he nodded down at Tardar Sauce. “And the one who found that for you.”

“And…” Nines shifted woodenly in his seat, his processors warring it out whether or not to ask when he already knew the answer. Illogical. He asked anyway. “Who is that?”

But Connor was already moving, already returning to the partner who needed help with this early hour bullshit, as Hank was so fond of calling it. “You’ll figure it out,” Connor called back over his shoulder.

Nines blinked. He looked down at the soft gray cat toy, and then up at his monitor. It was still off. His internal clock told him he’d just wasted twenty three minutes talking. With his coworkers, no less. A part of him tried to be annoyed at the lack of productivity.

The rest of him just felt warm.

When Gavin finally came into work, he looked… tired.

Very tired.

Nines watched him stumble through the door, balancing a to-go cup of coffee in one hand and his cellphone in the other. He didn’t even bother to look up when an officer clipped his shoulder on accident. No acerbic remarks, no shouting. Just a grunt, a mumble, and another swaying step forward until he made it to his desk. He collapsed into his seat and drank greedily from his coffee cup. He didn’t stop until it was drained dry.

“Holy fucking _shit,”_ he groaned weakly, tossing the cup towards the trash and missing badly. Nines got up to throw it away himself. “Is it Friday yet?”

“Not quite, Detective,” Nines replied. Gavin hadn’t showered or changed or slept at all since they last saw one another. The dots started to connect. He’d been up long past their parting, and exerting even more energy. Gavin yawned loudly as Nines returned to their shared workstation, that warmth back in his cheeks, his fingers, his core. “But you’ll be pleased to know that Friday is only forty nine point six hours away. I hope you’ll spend it working more than complaining.”

Gavin slumped against his desk and looked at him through the gap in their monitors. He watched Nines pick up Tardar Sauce the second he sat back down. Gavin looked away when he started to tug on the cat’s ears. “What’s got you so chipper today?” the man muttered, his face beginning to go pink. “Since when did you turn into the rest of us with desk clutter?”

Nines held his toy and didn’t bother hiding his smile.

“Just a gift from the office fairy,” Nines said. “Think nothing of it.”

Perhaps he didn’t need to try so hard after all.

**Author's Note:**

> leave a comment if you liked it and check me out on twitter @tdcloud_writes for more dbh shenanigans. im gonna go nap now. until next time!


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